What Would an Alumni Association Do?

So, you're a high school graduate and before you've really figured out how to get around your college campus, a yellow post card from your high school alumni association comes in the mail asking you for money to belong to their group. And they ONLY want $100 for a lifetime membership with 4 'free' newsletters each year if you send them money. 

Don't they know you are only a high school grad? Don't they know you have no money? Don't they know you can barely afford your books for school? 

Yes, they know. They've been there and they are out there, looking to help your alma mater. Maybe the auditorium needs to get the stage curtains cleaned. Maybe the Marching Band needs a little more money to buy uniforms for this year's football games. Maybe the Social Studies department needs interactive world maps to make the mandatory classes more interesting. Maybe the math department needs new calculators, or the Robotics Team (www.team007.org) needs money to build their robot well enough to be competitive on a national level.

Along comes the Alumni Association with some money for the sole purpose of helping your high school get what they need!

That's not all! The Alumni Assocition is also raising money to fund scholarships for current Parkville High School students looking for funding to go to college. Each year they are able to award nice-sized scholarships to seniors of Parkville HS! So, they help teachers at Parkville and students at Parkville; just exactly what do they do for the Alumni of Parkville? 

Well, they have volunteer work you could do to boost your resume if you're building it. They have leadership positions available for you, and they need someone to tackle putting the newsletter together! They have monthly meetings, an annual Shrimp Feast and Bull Roast, as well as a comeraderie that you can only get if you have a common interest amongst a group of people. 

I recently attended a meeting of the Parkville High School Alumni Association, and was really impressed with the energy and knowledge of these people. Did you know that PHS's first graduating class from 1956 graduated from the school now known as Parkville Middle School? Did you know that the Association mails out 12,000 postcards each year asking for renewed memberships or new ones?

Well, if you want to know more about the Parkville High School Alumni Association, you can check them out on Facebook at or you can visit them at their own site. 

In the meantime, they welcome recent PHS graduates at their monthly meetings! They meet on the first Thursday of every month, their next meeting will take place at PHS on September 1, 2011 at 7:00.

You must be a member to come and take part, but if you do become a member, you won't be disappointed. The Association is hoping to broaden their base this year, by attracting more members from recent PHS graduating classes. So, if you've graduated from Parkville High School in the last 20 years, and would like to consider helping your high school, please consider joining the Alumni Association. 

How do you do that? Well, you could e-mail Keith Derrickson at ParkvilleHighAlumni@bcps.org, contact him by phone at 443-982-7039; or you could post your questions and concerns below in the comments section, and I'll pass them along to the right person in the Association! 

In the meantime, consider this. The Alumni Association has an annual Shrimp Feast and Bull Roast, which acts as its primary fundraiser. Often, Classes will have their reunions in conjunction with the Shrimp Feast, or folks will get together and buy a table just to be able to reconnect in the spring.

Next year's Shrimp Feast will be held again at Columbus Gardens and on Facebok as Columbus Gardens on Saturday, May 5 from 7:00 p.m. to midnight. Tickets will be available at a number of events throughout the year, beginning with the Parkville High School's Freshman Orientation, to be held on Thursday, August 25, 2011 from 6:00 - ?.

They will also be at Back-To-School night in September, and of course, should you wish to simply purchase tickets without going to either of these events, you can always give Keith a call. He'd be happy to arrange for you to purchase as many as you'd like to purchase.  Set aside the evening of May 5, 2011, Ladies and Gentlemen, and see just what the Alumni Association of Parkville High School is capable.

I'd like to challenge the classes of 1983 (the year I graduated from my high school), 2005 (the class from which my oldest graduated), and the class of 2007 (the year I started working at Parkville) to make some noise, and make it a point to have the most class members at the Shrimp Feast this coming year.

And it wouldn't be a bad idea for ya'll to consider joining up. Kids need scholarships and teachers need supplies. Parkville High School Alumni Association is a provider of both and they do it with an inspiring amount of energy and passion!